A Sheltered Way

Maura Hart

It all started because I wanted to understand the love of God. The fact that God is love makes it impossible to separate God and His love. I want to know the breadth, length, depth and height of the love of God. To know God is to know His love for us. The first thing He showed me and led me to understand was that He made a way for me. A way to walk in in this life - a sheltered way. When we start to understand who He is and what He has done for us it strengthens the inner man and increases our faith in Him that we might be able to depend on Him for all things. In other words, the more I learn of Him, the more I trust Him and am willing to lean on Him and let Him do His will in my life.

Eph 3:16-20 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That  Christ may dwell in your Hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and Height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that worketh in us,
Before I came to know Him He prepared a way for me. The way was prepared as He dwelt on the Earth. The way before He came was through the law a truly rough and obstacle ridden place where many have fallen and most, if not all, had perished. (There is none righteous no not one). He opened the way through His death and now I am able to travel that glorious way. In the beautiful book of Isaiah God explains what He has done; He has opened Heaven and provided a way for us to walk in to get there. The only way you can get to Heaven is through this way. The only way you can get into this way is if God puts you there. This is what God showed me about His way.
Isa 35:7-10 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein].  No lion shall be there, nor [any] ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk [there]:  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their Heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Rev 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.


His has made a way for us in the desert (world). There is a special place reserved for us to walk in a dry and barren land. It is called they way of life or the way of holiness. There springs and pools there of living water so that all who are thirsty can come and drink freely. There is nothing in this way to harm us. We are protected in this way. There are no ravenous beasts or devils that can harm us in the way. Not only that but the way is so easy to walk the fools cannot err therein and if we are fool enough to err God leads us back into the way; He tells how and where to go through His word. I don’t understand why we think that Jesus will wipe away our tears only when we are in Heaven. It says in the scripture: “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away”. Are we not in the way now? Does your heart not ache with love because you can’t contain the joy you feel when you think about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for you? We have everlasting joy on our heads now the same as we’ve obtained everlasting life - now.

He has given us an everlasting joy in our hearts, a gladness, a new song... Holy Holy Holy is the lamb who redeemed us by His own blood, He is the way, the truth and the life.
 

Isa 40:6-11 The voice said, Cry. And He said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field:  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass.  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.  O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!  Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong [hand], and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward [is] with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry [them] in His bosom, [and] shall gently lead those that are with young.


He is our Father in every sense of the word. He leads us and guides us and loves us with the love of a perfect Father. He wants to gather His babies into His arms and protect and shield us. The word of God shall stand forever. His promise of mercy and care are true. Compared to Him we are as grass but loves us so much! He can’t wait for us to Hear His word and find the Way back to Him.

Isa 40:1-5 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that Her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all Her sins.  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see [it] together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].
The Lord is calling us to comfort and rest in the way. The way is level and straight and smooth. It is well- lighted by His glory. There are no mountains to climb or valleys to negotiate or obstacles to avoid. He gives us beauty for our ashes, for our mourning He gives us oil of joy, for our spirit of Heaviness He gives us a garment of praise. His has clothed us with His righteousness. He covers us with His hand; He has bared His arm for us; His salvation has come unto us. We are free from all that conquered us before. Jesus has been revealed to us.

The mountains and valleys we sing and speak of are fleshly not spiritual ones. We feel weak in the flesh and we say we are going through a valley; we feel strong in the flesh then we say we are on a mountain. The truth is that spiritually God puts us on the right way and the strength of God does not diminish but our reliance on it does so we feel we are weak. It is an insult to God to think He has put us in a way that we always have to be worried because looming ahead is a big spiritual valley - will God Help us over or not? God loves us too much and gave too much for us to not have a perfect way for us to go in. If we trust in the Lord we do not have this roller coaster like life of our past fleshly life. Our spiritual life is steady, powerful and fruitful.

David, in the old testament, wrote about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. David walked in the old Testament law which lead unto death because no one could keep the law. In the new testament there is no more valley of the shadow of death. Death has lost. There is no valley of the shadow of death in this new and living way and as we see there is nothing to fear.

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed ...

Jer 17:7-8 Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.  For He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and [that] spreadeth out Her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Jhn 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Rom 6:12-13 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

God has taken all that would hinder us spiritually out of our way. Before Jesus died we were bound to the law which worked sin in us and lead to death. Now when we realize we are dead to the law we can yield ourselves to Him. We drink freely of living water. We are free spiritually. We are no longer in bondage to sin and unrighteousness. We are free to belong to God. We are free to walk in His way.
Isa 30:21 And thine ears shall Hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

God does chasten and directs those whom He loves and does try us but only that we should come forth as pure gold. There is a distinct and important difference between being tested and being tempted. The bible says in James 1:13-14 that we are not to say that we are tempted of the Lord. The Lord does not tempt with sin because sin is abhorrent to Him. To Him it would be like giving a baby razor blades to play with. The reason we feel tempted is because we are drawn away by our own lusts. Away from what? From the highway of holiness. We are taken out of the way. But there is good news because Isaiah (Isa 30:21) Heard a word behind him telling him : Here is the way of holiness; walk ye in it. When He turned to the left hand or turned to the right.

Our spiritual journey is now one of joy, gladness, abundant life and praise to Him who redeemed us unto Himself through His death and brings us into a new life through His resurrection, not one of fear of what is to come whether life or sleep. His way was opened up to us through His death on the cross and we are raised to walk in the newness of life in that way.

Maura
Maura Hart E-mail: maura.hart@dal.ca


MATURITY